The invention relates to a device for handling sleeves for cylinders of printing presses.
Printing presses usually have a plurality of cylinders, for example, printing cylinders, inking rollers and the like, which occasionally must be exchanged, for example, when changing over a printing press for a different printing order. Changing systems are known, for which the cylinders in the printing press are clamped hydraulically or pneumatically on one axle, which remains mounted on one side in the printing press during a change of cylinders, so that the cylinders can be pulled off and slipped on axially. In this case, the cylinders have a continuous coaxial channel, through which the axle, attached to the machine, passes when the cylinders are installed in the printing press. This continuous channel can also be used for handling the cylinders outside of the printing press, in that the whole of the logistics system for the preparation, storage, transport and installation of the cylinders is equipped with holding devices, which in each case have an essentially horizontal, freely protruding pin, onto which the cylinders can be pushed.
On the other hand, so-called sleeve systems are known, for which each cylinder consists of a core and a detachable sleeve, which has been slipped onto the core. It is then not necessary to change the whole cylinder when the printing machine is changed over. Instead, only the sleeve is pulled off and replaced by a different one, while the cylinder core remains in the printing press. The sleeves generally have a relatively thin wall and, in any case, a relatively large internal cross-section, which corresponds to the external cross section of the cylinder core and is clearly larger than the internal cross section of the channel mentioned above. Until now, the sleeve has generally been pulled off and slipped onto the cylinder core manually. However, in the EP-A-1 090 754, a device is described, which is installed in the printing press and with which the pulling off of the sleeve from the core and the slipping on of the sleeve onto the cylinder core can be automated partly.
It is an object of the invention to provide a device, which facilitates the handling of the sleeve outside of the printing press.
Pursuant to the invention, this objective is accomplished by a carrying tube, on which a mounting device, engaging the sleeve, is disposed for clamping the sleeve in a position aligned coaxially with the carrying tube.
By means of the mounting device, the sleeve is connected with the carrying tube so that the latter extends coaxially through the sleeve. Consequently, the sleeve can then be held at the carrying tube and transported without, exposing the relatively thin-walled sleeve to deformational forces, which could damage the sleeve. Overall, the configuration of sleeve and handling device then corresponds to a complete cylinder with a continuous coaxial channel of the type described above, the channel being formed by the internal cross section of the carrying tube. The sleeve, with the handling device, can therefore be slipped in the same manner as the complete cylinder onto a pin of a handling robot, of a transporting carriage, a shelf, and the like.
The inventive solution accordingly makes it possible to use the logistics system, which is already in existence for the cylinder of the printing press, in the same way for the sleeve. Accordingly, printing cylinder sleeves, for example, before or after the blocks are glued on, can be mounted on the inventive handling device and, with the help of this handling device, then slipped onto a pin-like holder of a transporting carriage, with which they are transported to a storage area. The storage area may, in turn, have pin-like holding devices, onto which complete printing cylinders or the sleeves, provided with the handling device, can be slipped as required. In the case of a fully or semi-automatic storage area, a handling device may be provided, which approaches the storage places (pins) which are disposed next to and above one another, in order to store the sleeve or the printing cylinder at the desired storage site or to remove them from the storage area. The handling device, in turn, may also have a pin, which engages the channel of the printing cylinder or the carrying tube of the handling device for the sleeves. The sleeves, which are taken from the storage area and required for use in the printing press, can be transferred with the help of the handling device onto a carriage, which is once again equipped with pin-like holders, and carried with these to the printing press, where they are slipped onto the cylinder cores. Similarly, the sleeves, removed from the printing press, can be stored once again in the storage area.
Advantageous developments of the invention arise out of the dependent claims.
Preferably, the mounting device is disposed at one end of the carrying tube, on which, at a distance from the mounting device, a disk-shaped supporting element is disposed, which is surrounded with little clearance by the mounted sleeve. By these means, excessive deformation of the sleeve is avoided in the event that external forces, after all, act directly on the sleeve. Moreover, the sleeve can be slipped on to the cylinder core in the printing press more easily due to the supporting element If the sleeve is to be slipped on, the carrying tube of the handling device is aligned coaxially with the cylinder core in the printing press, the mounting device is loosened and the sleeve is pushed manually or automatically by the handling device onto the cylinder core, the supporting element preventing any tilting of the sleeve as long as it has not yet been pushed far enough onto the cylinder core.
Accordingly, especially the handling of sleeves is facilitated and the sleeves may have a length of 2000 mm or more, depending on the printing width of the printing press.
In accordance with a further development of the invention, a centering piece may be provided at the free end of the carrying tube and can be coupled to an axle stub of the cylinder core or to the end of an axle, mounted on the machine and passing through the cylinder core. In this way, a precise alignment of the sleeve in relation to the cylinder core is achieved, so that the sleeve can then be slipped effortlessly onto the cylinder core.